The Limey

The Limey #17: Five Games that Changed my Life

Namco's arcade racing hit Ridge Racer was ahead of its time in many different ways, but when the near-perfect PlayStation port arrived on my roommate's imported (and extremely expensive) Japanese PSOne my grades at university went out the window for the best part of two semesters. I'd always liked racing games, but Ridge Racer's pick-up-and-play mentality coupled with the blistering graphics and pumping techno soundtrack had me by the family jewels for a long time.

I'd spend hour after hour vying for the joypad as myself and my friends took turns trying to beat the game, win the black devil car and shave hundredths of a second off of each other's best times. It got to the point where we could pull off impossibly stupid reverse powerslides which sent the cars spinning around sharp hairpin corners the wrong way without losing any momentum whatsoever. Ridge Racer is directly responsible for my passion for arcade racers and it's the reason why I still like cheesy electronica to this day.

EverQuest is arguably the most life-changing game I've ever played. I managed to get into the early beta test back when Verant was a subsidiary of Sony Online Entertainment and it was love at first sight. In addition to the massively multiplayer aspects EverQuest was also one of the first games that used 3D-accelerated graphics. Those factors -- and the fact that it was the first MMO-style game I'd ever played -- made for magic.

I played EverQuest exclusively for at least 18 months, something I've never done for any game before or since. Of course, World of Warcraft has long supplanted EverQuest as my MMO crack of choice, but if not for EverQuest and its dangerously addictive, rarely forgiving grind I believe that my gaming tastes would be very different today. It touched a nerve in a way that no other game since had managed to do. It was the best of times -- and also the worst of times from a "time invested" standpoint -- but I don't regret a minute of it.

Crushbone, Unrest, Lower Guk, Castle Mistmoor... *sniff*

So between this shortlist of gaming classics, my tastes have evolved to the point where I often choose social, multiplayer games over single-player affairs. My love of traditional RPGing has been replaced with a tendency toward action/adventure games, while racing games like Burnout Paradise and Midnight Club will always win over those like Gran Turismo. And strangely enough, I'm still more excited to play 2D beat-em-ups (can't wait to get stuck back into Marvel vs. Capcom 2 again) than the likes of Soulcalibur and Tekken.

So what games do you think have had a profound effect on your gaming career? You all play 'em, so let's hear which standout experiences made you who you are today. Cheers.

[The Limey is written by Bryn Williams, who is starting to get the yearly "must play A Link to the Past" itch once again.]